Dwight Howard pulls down one of his 22 rebounds to ignite an Orlando Magic fast-break in their 114-100 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

Photo by Fernando Medina, NBAE/Getty Images

Wow. What a game, right?

The Magic got of to the hottest start imaginable against the Raptors in their first series-opening home playoff game in over a decade. They shot a blistering 80% in the first quarter, hitting 9 of their 11 three-pointers, and scored 43 points in the period. The Raptors had no answer for, well, anything. Many of the three-point attempts were uncontested.

But the hot shooting wasn't the only reason the crowd was pumped up. Dwight Howard blocked three shots in the first nine minutes, setting the tone defensively. And Hedo Turkoglu got his once-a-month driving dunk in, barreling into the lane from the left corner, elevating past Andrea Bargnani, and throwing it down with his right hand.

The first period showed the differences between the teams' coaches. Our coach, Stan Van Gundy, did not change his game plan at all. We shot the three-pointer, like we have all season, and we made opponents pay for leaving our shooters open. In contrast, Sam Mitchell shuffled his starting lineup, putting Andrea Bargnani at small forward for the first time all season. He hoped Bargnani's size would present problems for Turkoglu, but he was wrong. Curiously, Jamario Moon, the Raptors' best defender and usual starter at small forward, played just five minutes. Perhaps Mitchell will be more inclined to play him more in Game Two...?

But everything changed after the first period. Obviously, we weren't going to keep shooting at an 80% clip, but the dropoff was tremendous. Simply put, we went cold. After shooting 16-of-20 for 43 in the first quarter, we went 15-of-36 for 42 points over the next two, and headed into the fourth period with a scant 10-point lead.

But that's when Dwight Howard took over.

More precisely, he didn't take over until after the Raptors pulled within 5 on a Jason Kapono three-pointer. But from then on, he decided this game belonged to him, and to him alone:

• Coming out of the ensuing timeout, Hedo Turkoglu took a contested two-point jumper, but it went in anyway. 90-83, Magic.
• Rasho Nesterovic missed badly on the other end. Dwight rebounded...
• ...ran the floor, and was rewarded with a slam dunk off a Turkoglu assist. 92-83, Magic.
• Jose Calderon missed a fairly open three-pointer. Dwight rebounded...
• And was there to clean up the mess on the other end, when Turk missed a layup. 94-83, Magic.
• Kapono missed a wild three when he tried to create off-the-dribble, which is something we can let him do. Dude does not have a handle. Keith Bogans got the rebound.
• After an illegal defense against the Raptors, and Rashard Lewis' ensuing missed technical free throw, the Magic ran a set play for Bogans, who was to shoot out a three of the right corner. The shot was too strong, the ball bounced off the far side of the rim... and Dwight was there for the putback slam. 96-83, Magic.
• Toronto called timeout. Didn't matter. Dwight played the passing lanes and came up with a steal...
• ...threw it ahead to Jameer Nelson, who laid it in. 98-83, Magic. Ballgame.

I've seen Dwight play plenty of games over the past several years, but I've never seen him dominate, on both ends of the floor, like he did yesterday. It was his best game at the professional level, and is nearly unprecedented for someone his age. Only three other players since 1986 have recorded 25-point, 20-rebound, 5-block efforts before age 23: Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, and Shawn Bradley. Of those players, only Shaq did it at a younger age than Dwight did yesterday.

So, should we get out the brooms and prepare for a sweep? No. God, no. In the 68 possessions in periods two through four, we scored 71 points, for a dreadfully low offensive rating of 104.4, so it's not like we dominated the Raptors from start to finish. Jameer Nelson and Maurice Evans won't play this well every night, just as Chris Bosh and Forderon won't play as poorly. We have the more talented team, but still only won yesterday because of (a) freakishly hot shooting and (b) Toronto's reluctance to exploit Jameer Nelson's defense. However, we will win this series. But not every game will be as easy.

Buckle up. It's going to be a long series.

	vs.
38-23		32-26
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
FSN Florida, NBA TV
Probable starters:
Carlos Arroyo	PG	Jose Calderon
Maurice Evans	SG	Anthony Parker
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	Jamario Moon
Rashard Lewis	PF	Andrea Bargnani
Dwight Howard	C	Rasho Nesterovic

UPDATE: See the newest post for the scoop (courtesy of Tim Povtak) that J.J. Redick may play "significant" minutes tonight, as Keith Bogans is doubtful with a strained stomach muscle.

The Raptors won't have Chris Bosh. We won't have Jameer Nelson Keith Bogans or Keyon Dooling. Oddly enough, I think that favors Toronto. As the Raptors proved in a December 2006 visit to Amway Arena, they don't need Bosh in the lineup to hand our hats to us. "Sure," you may say, "But we didn't have Hedo Turkoglu for that game, and we'll have him tonight." Well, we had him for the Raptors' second visit to Amway last season and he scored a career-high 37 points... in a losing effort.

What worries me the most about tonight's game is Carlos Arroyo and Jameer Nelson having to guard T.J. Ford and Jose Calderon. If Dwight Howard doesn't assert himself in the paint, it's going to be a long night. There are only a few players in this league who can prevent Ford and Calderon from getting into the paint. Carlos Arroyo is not one of those players. Neither is Jameer.

Brian Schmitz notes that this game could have huge playoff implications. We've split the season-series with Toronto so far, so if it wins tonight, it will own the head-to-head tiebreaker should we finish with the same record.

For some Raptors perspective, check out Dinosty, T. Jose Caldeford, and Hoops Addict. Tipoff's at 7. Go Magic.

Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors makes an uncontested slam-dunk after blowing by the defense of Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic. The Raptors won, 127-110.
Photo by Ron Turenne/NBAE via Getty Images

In a horrid display of defensive ineptitude, the Orlando Magic let the Toronto Raptors score 127 points and get virtually any shot they wanted. The game featured 89 possessions, meaning the Raptors blistered the Magic for an offensive rating of 142.7. Chris Bosh abused Dwight Howard for 40 points -- two shy of his career-high -- on 14-of-16 shooting; Howard returned the favor, with 37 points -- two shy of his career-high -- on 13-of-16 shooting. With the teams' respective superstars putting on offensive clinics against one another, two factors swayed the game in Toronto's favor:

1. Hot three-point shooting;
2. Help from teammates

The first factor is no surprise. The Raptors lead the NBA in three-point percentage and feature Jason Kapono, the two-time defending three-point shootout champion. They shot 11-of-20 from downtown on the night. Granted, some of those were lucky makes. Bosh and rookie Jamario Moon, both sub-.300 three-point shooters for their careers, nailed back-to-back treys in the third quarter. But for the most part, the Raptors got the looks they wanted, and that's the Magic's fault; that's not lucky shots by usually poor shooters.

The second factor is pretty eye-popping. Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis, the Magic's two other major offensive threats, combined for 32 points on 10-of-30 shooting. They looked tired on the second night of a back-to-back, and Turkoglu was more content to defer to his teammates and finished with a team-best 9 assists. Meanwhile, Bosh's supporting cast was much more effective. Every Raptor who played more than 20 minutes shot at least 50% from the floor. Carlos Delfino and Jose Calderon combined for 7 three-pointers. Taking away the horrid play of Andrea Bargnani, the 7'0" center whom the Raptors drafted with the first overall selection in the 2006 NBA draft, the Raptors shot 46-of-72. Unreal.

As horridly as we played tonight, we shouldn't get too worried. We were on the second night of a back-to-back playing a contending team on the road. Additionally, we were coming off two great efforts against Denver and Detroit in which we held them to sub-100 offensive ratings. And with a somewhat favorable schedule to end the month, the Magic should still be in good shape headed into March and the big playoff push.

A final note on Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard: as Magic play-y-play man David Steele noted, Bosh and Howard have a good relationship, as Bosh was a freshman at Georgia Tech when Howard was a high-school senior at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy. Bosh has consistently outplayed Howard in head-to-head matchups, but most reasonable NBA fans would agree that Howard is the better player and has the best shot at being a championship big-man at some point in their career. In this respect, the Bosh/Howard relationship resembles that of Chris Paul and Deron Williams, the two point guards forever linked because of their draft class. Williams has beaten Paul in 7 of his Jazz's 8 head-to-head meetings with Paul's Hornets, and has consistently outplayed him in those meetings, yet Paul is a much better player and a bona-fide MVP candidate. It will be interesting to see how the Bosh/Howard relationship plays out as their careers progress. Although Detroit and Boston are clearly in a class by themselves in the Eastern Conference, they're also much older than Toronto and Orlando. Cleveland is another great team, but they don't have a young, dominant big-man. Thus, there's a great chance that Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard will do battle in several Eastern Conference Finals series in the years to come.

And I can't wait.

	vs.
28-23		34-21
Air Canada Centre
7:00 PM
Sun Sports
Probable starters:
Jose Calderon	PG	Jameer Nelson
Anthony Parker	SG	Maurice Evans
Jamario Moon	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Chris Bosh	PF	Rashard Lewis
Andrea Bargnani	C	Dwight Howard

Tonight's game marks the Raptors' first in exactly a week. The All-Star break was fairly kind to Toronto. Jason Kapono defended his Three-Point Shootout crown, and Chris Bosh started for the Eastern team for the second straight season.

Toronto is a team that concerns me because it matches up well against Orlando. Bosh is a big guy, but he doesn't exclusively play down low. Ditto for Andrea Bargnani. The point is there's no one for Dwight Howard to guard, because he's loathe to go out on the perimeter. He'll almost certainly check Bosh, but if he uses his quick first step well, he'll go directly to the basket with almost no resistance.

Speaking of Bosh: he's one of the funniest guys in the NBA. First, he imitated a used-car salesman to campaign for All-Star votes; more recently, he became Blane Harrington, an Oxford graduate, in this hilarious entry. It's appropriate that I mention Bosh's sense of humor because the Magic are a joke to him. He set a career-high of 41 points in a game against us last year, a number he has since bested in a game against the Suns.

Check out the Dinosty for a Raptors perspective.

Tipoff's at 7:00 on Sun Sports. Don't worry about missing the Suns/Lakers game, in which Shaquille O'Neal will make his Phoenix debut against his former pal, Kobe Bryant; it doesn't start until 9:00.

	vs.
2-2		3-1
Air Canada Centre
7:00 PM
FSN Florida
Probable starters:
T.J. Ford	PG	Carlos Arroyo
Anthony Parker	SG	Keith Bogans
Jason Kapono	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Chris Bosh	PF	Rashard Lewis
Andrea Bargnani	C	Dwight Howard

25 words or fewer: Two teams expected to contend for division championships square off in the second half of back-to-back games.

Know your enemy: The Raptors got crushed by the Bucks last night, but that shouldn't make us feel any better. Toronto was one of two teams to beat us four times in the regular season in 2006/2007.

Useless information: Toronto center Andrea Bargnani, the first overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, has eligibility at small forward, power forward, and center in Yahoo! Sports fantasy leagues.

Bullet points:

• Despite the fact that both teams played last night, the Raptors should still be favored. Why? Because they got blown out, only one of their starters, T.J. Ford, played more than 20 minutes. Their starting lineup should be well-rested, not to mention motivated.
• Contrast the Raptors' situation with that of the Magic, who played all their starters at least 31 minutes last night. Considering the Magic bench's ineptitude so far, we fans should be worried.
• No word yet on if Jameer Nelson is feeling well enough to start tonight. He'll be re-evaluated later today.
• Considering the Raptors' abundance of international players, shouldn't Carlos Arroyo start anyway? He loves international competition. He absolutely shredded the Chinese National Team while getting starters' minutes in an exhibition game last month.
• The Orlando Sentinel's game preview notes the Magic have not won a game in Canada since 2003. Juwan Howard and Drew Gooden posted double-doubles in that game for Orlando, and Tracy McGrady scored 29 points.
• Chris Bosh is, like Chauncey Billups and Jannero Pargo, a Magic Killer. In 11 career games against the Magic, CB4 has averaged 20.8 points. The only team against which he has averaged more points is Charlotte.